SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — Driverless ride hailing service Cruise announced Thursday it will be laying off an unspecified number of workers, according to reports. The layoffs are set to impact contract workers who clean and charge the vehicles in its driverless fleet, along with those who handle customer support, according to CNBC.
“Cruise has made the difficult decision to reduce a portion of the contingent workforce that supported driverless ridehail operations,” said a Cruise company spokesperson in a statement to CNBC.
It was first reported on Wednesday that Cruise layoffs were on the way. According to Forbes, Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt told company executives that layoffs were necessary during an hour-long meeting Monday.
That meeting, Forbes reported, was to discuss damage control measures following a series of damaging headlines about the General Motors backed autonomous vehicle service. In San Francisco, there has been a steady stream of incidents involving Cruise vehicles.
In October, a Cruise vehicle ran over a pedestrian that was knocked into its path by another vehicle. With the pedestrian trapped under its chassis, the Cruise vehicle attempted to pull over, dragging the pedestrian who was critically injured as a result.
During an inquiry into the matter, Cruise failed to disclose that the vehicle had attempted a pullover maneuver with the pedestrian trapped underneath. Following that incident, San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey accused Cruise of “selective disclosure of video evidence.”
Following that incident, Cruise’s autonomous vehicle deployment and driverless testing permits were suspended by the California Department of Motor Vehicles. The DMV cited “an unreasonable risk to public safety” as a reason for the suspension.
On Wednesday, General Motors announced it was recalling all 950 Cruise vehicles in order to update software to prevent similar incidents from occurring. According to CNBC, Cruise plans to resume its driverless service, but it does not yet have a timeline for when it may do so.
